Carly Hayward – Editor

I am a developmental editor specializing in genre-fiction, including but not limited to romance, paranormal, erotica, fantasy, and YA. I will be your book’s best friend.

I have worked in the publishing industry for over 15 years, including at a major publishing house, a literary agency, a small press, and an indie publishing house that helps indie-authors. I am also a co-host on a writing advice podcast.

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"I can’t rave about Carly enough! She performed a quick, yet thorough, read-through of my novel and created six pages of talking points. Then we skyped so I fully understood her points and recommendations. Together, we crafted a battle strategy for revisions—it was so efficient that the actual edits only took a week! And looking at the old draft versus the new one… wow. Her edits added a whole new dimension to my story, without sacrificing my original vision for the novel. If you’re hesitating on purchasing her work, don’t! After three years of querying, it took my newly revised manuscript just three months to find a home with a literary agent."

-Rebecca Thorne, author of This Gilded Abyss and Can't Spell Treason Without Tea

"I met Carly the same day I saw Mad Max Fury Road, so she'll forever be linked in my mind to Furiosa--someone you absolutely want on your side! With Carly's guidance, I turned my pretty okay novel into something so much more, something alive. I always felt she loved my characters as much as I did--she simply got what I was trying to do, and helped me do it. I have no doubt that my book (and hopefully many to come) are vastly improved by her involvement."

-Kim Alexander, International Bestselling Author of The Demon Door Series

"I had such a wonderful experience working with Carly—so fabulous that I worked with her twice—on two different manuscripts, both I adored and knew were close but not quite right. She was able to see my vision and pinpoint exactly what was falling flat, what needed more development, what needed more consistency, and what needed more balance.

Better yet, she explained each of the issues in a clear way that made sense and inspired me to make changes in a smart way, to expand some threads and cut others and dig deeper into certain characters. Her notes were so thorough and helpful and well organized and well thought-out, that I was super excited to edit—those are the best sort of notes.

Carly is super professional, prompt, organized, concise, and so smart! I learned so much working with her, all of which has carried me through to later projects. I would totally recommend her to anyone."

-Felicia Grossman, Author of Appetites & Vices